It’s a completely different game to the rest of the MMO. Much more like queuing FPS games.
Separating it allows you to balance classes without worrying about adverse effects in other parts of the game (raids, m+).
Depending on how they choose to run it, we wouldn’t have to deal with grinding for gear. You could potentially choose your gear, kind of like on the TR - so all the ppl who love customizing their stats can do that.
Weekly rewards could go the same way as Fortnite, etc. - mostly cosmetic. High rating could net you cool stuff too - I don’t think high rank players care so much about the gear rewards as the challenge of playing the game.
I also think think going this route would be an easier way for Blizzard to monetize - increase addressable market by making it easier for players to get into the game (due to no gearing or Leveling) and more focus on cosmetic purchases vs. lvl 110 boosts. Continue the subscription model.
I could go on for a while about other reasons why it’s a good idea but curious to people’s thoughts.
6 Likes
it needs the Dota all stars treatment
In a way I kind of feel like this is what they tried to do by making OW
Although obviously just not like WoW arena still, it’s hard to find anything like it 
3 Likes
I was just talking to my Dad about this last night.
Create a client that mirrors a TR, charge a $7 sub, with $2 of that going towards prize pools.
Another side to this, is that it can be marketed and monetized as a ‘separate’ game and actually bring more incentive to play AND watch arena as an eSport, and further Blizzard’s venture into that market.
What to do with retail arena, is the question.
2 Likes
Actually, I just gave myself another idea.
Add a sub upgrade of $5 monthly to unlock “Arena +” mode. It gives you an option to toggle like Warmode, and it phases you into a TR. You have separate gear sets and full TR access, but your achieves and mogs can carry over to your “toggled off” version.
This allows for monetization, separation, choice, all while keeping the game “self-contained”.
1 Like
One thing that people may gut reaction dislike about it is that they engage in wow because they like the MMO part of it. Moving away from the that will alienate some players, but gives it more of a chance against the popular games of today’s gaming era.
If you think of it like a business - divesting an asset that offers a fundamentally different value to its consumer could let you make that asset more valuable. No baggage etc.
Maybe I’m just getting older and annoyed I have to spend time grinding mythics to stay relevant.
1 Like
All the game needs is some passion for pvp from the devs, if you take gear and stuff outta the game it will just make it like a moba or something and ppl will get bored fast imo, wow pvp was once good there is no reason they couldnt make it good again other than laziness and love for dragon slaying and roleplay nerd quest battle pet transmog bs
Some people insist on this, you don’t want to turn arena into CoD. Stop. Just give us vendors/unprune/reforge.
3 Likes
they tried this in legion with templates and honor talents
people (still) werent happy
1 Like
This is a great idea and one I hoped they would do for a long time. Make a free to play arena client. Gear is only aesthetic. Solo queue and team queues, ranked and casual. High ranking rewards are unique gear appearances and titles. Micro-transactions for different gear sets, special fx, and mounts.
I doubt it’s going to happen though. Wow arena is easily the most inaccessible e-sport in gaming and if the in-game incentives are any indication (gear/profession/essence progression) this is absolutely intentional. There is no way to have a maxed out character without running mythics for gear and essences and without grinding AP. If players isolate themselves to one part of the game then the rest suffers; pvp is a big part of the game and is effectively being held hostage by the rest of the game. This is likely why despite player complaints, Blizzards seems to have gone all in with pve items being so strong in pvp.
Wow arena is a great competitive pvp experience but because of the PVE requirements, most players dominating a single faction, and lack of good ranked team matchmaking, it has become increasingly difficult to get games consistently. Being an alliance player on the west coast in the post-classic era makes that almost impossible. The game is in a bad place; there are so many good competitive e-sport caliber games available that I can just jump into and play. That includes some Blizzard titles so its not like they don’t realize whats going on here.
One can dream I guess.
I don’t like it. I like both aspects of the game, and I want to play them with the same character, same guild, and same friends. Separate subscription would also be an awful idea, because almost no one who PvE’s would play on this new game/server/TR/whatever it is. I would not want to spend 15$ a month to do the PvE things I like to do in the game along with paying another subscription to access arena.
Another thing to add, this was basically the thought process behind Legion arena.
Separating PvE and PvP balancing? Check.
Cosmetic rewards, being the PvP gear you get as well as elite sets? Check.
Making it easier for players to get into the game, because they could just a boost a character and not have to worry too much about getting gear? Check.
While not being able to choose your stats/gear and having to grind AP sucked, the overall idea of Legion PvP was loosely based off of what you said, although Blizzard did a terrible job of trying to implement it into the game. At the end of the day, there’s a lot of issues with PvP in this game, and just separating it into a different game/server doesn’t change the years of terrible balance changes and class homogenization that Blizzard has implemented over the last 8 years. This server won’t create competent developers, assuming this company even has PvP devs anymore.
making it an own game would threaten their original PvE game so it won’t likely happen.
I personally believe if they would ever make an own game with wow arena and PvP in general as big focus they would make more money than ever as those kind of games are these games players are more interested today.
WoW’s classes gameplay and engine is probably unmatched for a very long time looking in the future. Transfering it into PvP would make it in my beliefs one of the most popular and succesful games out there in the current age.
Now? Or 7 years ago? The classes now are so dumbed down and homogenized and I don’t think Blizzard would ever make an arena Mage have a different toolkit and spellbook than a Mage on regular WoW. I don’t think it would be even close to one of the most popular games out there for many reasons:
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WoW is, and always will be, a terrible spectator Esport. It’s just too fast paced and there is too much going on during most points in the game. People who don’t have extensive knowledge of the game won’t be able to watch it, which makes it a bad spectator esport.
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They would need to find competent developers to fix the sorry excuse for what we call classes now. Class depth and design is terrible at the current moment in time and would need a complete overhaul in order for people to enjoy it.
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Would need to be free with in game cosmetic micro transactions, or a buy to play game. A subscription model is a thing of the past and not many people are going to try the game if it costs 10-15 dollars a month to play.
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Blizzard has Overwatch League. That is their esport, that is the game they have stated will be their modern day competitive PvP experience. WoW arena will never see more prize support, sponsorship support, and overall effort put into it than Overwatch.
I think the idea of a separate WoW based arena type game is good, but it would need to be a complete separate title that is either free or buy to play, and it would need a competent dev team with new class design and better support. I don’t think that’s going to happen.